Control mechanism for spin-dry washing machines



Feb. 9, 1954 I c. F. EMMERT 2,668,432 ,CONTROL MECHANISM FOR SPIN-DRY'WASHING MACHINES Filed June 22; 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 C. F. EMMERT CONTROL MECHANISM FOR SPIN-DRYWASHING MACHINES Filed June 22, 1949 4 sham-sheet 2 IN V EN TOR. ZZTmmer/ fla y zfaiz wan/4 2;?

c. F. EMMERT CONTROL MECHANISM FOR SPIN-DRY WASHING'MACHINES Filed June 22, 1949 Feb. 9, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 1954 c. F. EMMERT 2,668,432

CONTROL MECHANISM FOR SPIN-DRY WASHING MACHINES Filed June 22, 19-119 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENZOR.

Patented Feb. 9, 1954 CONTROL MECHANISM FOR SPIN-DRY WASHING MACHINES Clayton F. Emmert, Newton, Iowa, assignor to Automatic Washer Company, Newton, Iowa Application June 22, 1949, Serial No. 100,660

V 8 Claims. 1

Domestic washing machines employing a washing unit in combination with a centrifugal extractor spinning unit commonly called Spin Dry washing machines are commonly complicated in their operation, for the housewife, with separated controls which make it confusing and inconvenient for prompt and effective control of the various washing operations.

This invention relates to a control mechanism for spin-dry washing machines and concerns itself primarily with a structure having a centralized control panel whereby an attendant can control the agitator, the spinner and the drain, in fact, all operations from a single location.

It is an object of this invention to position the control levers at a convenient location and height and in a centralized panel so that they can be operated to control all of the operations necessary to carry on a washing operation from a single location.

The invention comprises the novel structure and combination of parts hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out and defined in the appended claims.

In the. accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred form of this invention and in which similar reference numerals refer to similar features in the different views:

.Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a washing machine involving this invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken upon the line 22 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the machine;

Fig. 4 is a part sectional and part elevational view of the drain control of the machine;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view of a part of the control mechanism; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the parts in a different position.

In referring now to the drawing, there is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 two control levers I and 8. a The lever I controls the agitator of the washing machine and the drain valve while the lever 8 controls the spinner and the drain pump. It will be noted that these levers are secured respectively to shafts or rods 9 and III which are located upon the side of'the machine at a convenient height and in a centralized panel I I having a bezel I Ia for retaining a bevelled name plate I lb.

The shaft or rod 9 rigidly supports a lever I2 upon its inner end as shown in Fig. 4. Lever I2 is adapted to operate shaft I3 through a connection consisting of a lever I5 rigidly secured to 2 shaft l3 and a link I4 which connects levers l2 and I5. The inner end of shaft I3 carries a crank arm I6 (Fig. 2) which is connected to a link I! by means of a slot Na and a pin Ilia and which in turn is pivotally connected to drain valve I8 of the washing chamber. Thus rotation of lever I controls the drain valve i8. The valve I8 may consist of a rubber washer backed up by a spring I9 which normally tends to keep the drain valve closed. The shaft I3 is suitably supported in a bearing bracket I3a.

Lever "I also controls the agitator through the lever I5 which actuates lever 2| through a pin 22 and slot 23 connection as shown in Fig. 4. Lever 2| is secured to a shaft 24 having a clutch ing shifting fork 25 for shifting clutch 26 which controls the agitator shaft '21 (Fig. 4).

It will be noted that lever I2 on shaft 9 has an arcuate portion I2a which extends upon the opposite side of the shaft 9 from the link I4. This ar-cuate portion contains two spaced detent depressions 28 and 29 as shown in Fig. 4. These depressions are adapted to be engaged by a yielding detent 30 (Fig. 2) for temporarily latching the lever in drain and neutral position respectively. The detent 30 is suitably mounted in the bearing bracket 3| of shaft 9. In one position of lever I2, the drain valve l8 will be open while in the other position the agitator shaft will be in neutral position. A third detent depression 28a may be added maintaining lever 7 in clutching position. Thus lever '1 must be swung in opposite directions from neutral for these purposes.

The shaft I0 (Figs. 2 and 6) upon which lever 8 is secured also carries a lever which is designated 32 and which consists of an arm 32a and an arcuate portion 32b which has three detent depressions 33, 34 and 35 which are adapted to be engaged by a yielding detent 36 mounted in the bearing bracket 3| (Fig. 2). This construction will allow the lever 8 to be temporarily latched in any of three positions. In one position, the clutch on the spinner shaft and pump will be engaged; in another position, the pump only will be engaged, as will presently appear.

A link 31 is pivoted atone end to the arcuate portion of the lever 32 adjacent one end of such arcuate portion and the other end is connected to a clutch control lever 38 (Figs. 2. and 3) for controlling a clutch 39 on the spinner shaft 40. Thus the operation of lever B through lever 32, link 31 and lever 38 controls the spinner clutch. In the position shown in Fig. 3, lever 32 is in pumping position and in this position the hook or bent portion 31a on link 31 engages a shelf or 3 stop 3 la on bracket 3i and prevents lever 32 from dropping and this prohibits the clutch lever 33 from being operated. This comes about because portion 31a of link 3'! extends through a slot 31b in lever 32 whereby the shelf holds the link toward the top of the slot in Figure 3, but in Figure 6 the link is at the bottom of the slot, this difierence in vertical position of the link being sufiicient to operate the spinner clutch.

A cam link 4! is pivoted at one end to the arm 32a of lever 32 and is provided with a cam 42 at an intermediate point slightly spaced from the lower end which is guided and supportedin-a bracket 43 which has a transverse slot 413 into which the end of a pump controrlever 45 projects as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The pump contr'ol lever 45 is attached at its remote end to pump assembly 46 which is pivoted as indicatedat 4'! so that it can swing on pivot 41 to engageor'di'sengage drive element 48a on the pump and friction'drive gearlifion pulley 49rsecured upon spinnershaft- 40, which in turn is driven by a belt 56: running from power shaft through pulley 5.!

The pump assembly 46 comprises a pump having an inlet as at 46c and a discharge as at 4522. The inlet is connected, in a. conventionalmanner, as by flexible hoses, with drain connection i8 of; the washing tub. and with drain connection lficof thespinnercompartment. These hoses.

are 'not'shown, but. the manner of installing them.

will be immediately evident to anyone versed in this art.. Similarly, a. flexible hose or the like can be connectedto-pump discharge 45b to provide a-means to. deliver the discharged fluid directly toasewer or drain connection.

The above describedmechanismfis housed in a sectional casing 52, the-upper portion of which position (Fig. 1);, in which position the lever 12- Will be engagedin one depressionby the spring detent During this movement, lever 1-2 through links lGand I! will open the drain-valve 8 from thewashing chamber. However, iflever I, ismoved fromcits .ofi position inc. counterfclockwisedirectiontothe wash position, the

lever 12 will engage the spring detent in theother depression, During this movementot leverl2; lever. [Swill operate link 21 for throwingin-th'e clutchon the agitator shaft, while pin lfia will rideddly inslot Ha withoutroperating link 11.

The, lever 3 which is shown in off position can be shiitedin a clockwise position-to thedotted line position and be-latched in such position bythe yielding detent. During this move mentof the. lever. B, the lever 32 will be shifted for operating link 31 and cam link 4i (Fig. 6-),

for throwing. in the pump and spinnerclutchesand putting both the pump and spinner operation. However, if lever B is sWu'n'ginan-anticlockwise direction asviewed in Fig. 1', to the dotted line position, camlink 41 will again be actuated for shifting lever 45 for swinging the pump assembly upon pivot 41 and putting the pump in operation, but, at this time, the spinner clutch will, of course,bedisengaged because of the pportprovided for 1ink3l by *shelf'inc as described above and as shown in Figure3. Lever 8 shouldbe in this latterposition 'fordr'ain-ing the washing compartment.

At the end of a washing operation when the operator desires to drain the water from the main washing compartment, it is only necessary to move lever 1 to the drain position which opens the drain valve and move lever 8 to the pump position for starting the drain pump.

When the soap and Water have been spun out of the clothes in the spinner, the control lever 8 can be moved to its off position (Fig. 5) and the spinner compartment sprayed with water for a rinsing operation. When the rinsing operation is complete, the control lever 8 can be moved to its pump position for draining the water from. the dryertcompartment or to its spin position to=spinthe spinner basket and simultaneously to drain the dryer compartment. This operation may be repeated as many times as necessary in a simple manner.

important advantage of this control system resides in the fact that in the event of a suds lock in the spinner compartment which occasionally occurs in all spinner type machines, the spinner basket 55 may be stopped by shifting-the control lever 13- to the pump position and theex cess water drained from the spinning compartment thereby. easily. breaking the suds look The control system: also allows spraying; thespinner compartment with: sufficient water to perform satisfactory manual rinsing-and draining withoutimposingtasevere loa'd uponthe driv ing motor because the dryer compartment 'can be drained before the spinner basket is started;

In addition to the foregoing; it will be evidentthat the. c'entralizationof the-contror levers 1 and 3. in acentralpanel at aconvenient height.

renders it possible forthe attendant to: control; the operation of the machine from a singl-erloca tion in a very easy. manner. At th'e=same*time;. the appearance-10f :the machine ismateriallyen hanced.

Lamaware that many 'c'hanges'zmasy "be made and various detailsof-t construction may be modi=- fied without departing" from the principles-'ofithisf. invention so I do not proposei'limitingthe patent granted otherwise than necessitated by the appended claims.

I.claim:

1. In a spin-dry washingrmachirie; -a1washing; compartment having a drainyal've', means opening said valve and-draining fluid from said compartmentcomprising aicontrol' panel upon. one-side of said-machine; a shaft:journalledlini said panel, a control lever upon the outer end of saidshait; a'l'eve'r' upomtlieinner end ofxsaid. shaft, a link extending from said last-mentioned lever; an oscil'latable'lever'connected' to said link, means connecting said oscillatable r lever and" drain valve whereby.- movement. of saidfirstmentioned lever:- will open saidwvalve,.a 'drain1 pump having an r inlet adapted for connection with said drain valve, drive means "forthe :purnpo. a clutch to connect the drive means to: the pump, a second shaft'jou-rnalledinsaidipanel; a second-" control lever upon the outerenrl of said second-. shaft to turn the shaft,- aleveruponthe "inner end ofsaid secondshaft movabletherewith for" actuating; said clutch" to start said. pump fordrainingsaid compartmentwhen said second: control lever is--moved rto=-a predeterminediposi 131011".

2. In a machine of the class descrihed;a'icasme having a. washing compartment w'ith"'*'a chamber below" said compartment, said compart ment having a drain valve :in' said chamberi an agitator shaft said compartmen't ascending into said chamber, a clutch on said shaft, a control panel upon the side of said casing above said chamber, a stub shaft journalled in said panel, a manually operated lever upon the outer end of said shaft for turning the shaft, an oper ating lever secured to the inner end of said shaft, a link pivoted to the outer end of said operating lever and extending downwardly into said chamber, a rock shaft in said chamber, an oscillatable lever secured to said rock shaft at an intermediate point on the lever andconnected at one end with said link, a connection between said rock shaft and said drain valve so movement of the rock shaft will control the valve, a shipper lever for said clutch, and a link connected to said shipper lever and having a slidable connection with the other end of said oscillatable lever said slidable connection being arranged to permit movement of the oscillatable lever beyond the position thereof where the said clutch is fully l tor in the machine, clutch means for connectn ing the motor with the agitator shaft, control means including a lever mounted on the side of said machine connected with said clutch and valve for selectively engaging said clutch or for opening said valve, second clutch means for connecting said motor with said drive shaft, third clutch means for connecting said pump with said motor, a second control lever mounted adjacent the first-mentioned control lever and connected with said second and third clutch means movable for selectively disengaging both of said second and third clutch means simultaneously or engaging, or for engaging only said third clutch means.

4. In a washing machine of the type described; a spinning basket, a drive shaft for the basket, a driven pulley rotatable on said shaft, a clutch on said shaft spring-urged toward a position to connect said shaft and pulley, a shifting lever pivoted in said machine connected with said clutch so movement of the lever will disengage the clutch against the action of said spring, a rotatable control lever on said machine, a link connecting said rotatable lever with said shifting lever, and a radial slot in said rotatable lever receiving the end of said link, said control lever having a central neutral position wherein said link passes over top center and is positioned to hold said shifting lever in position to maintain said clutch open, said control lever being shiftable in either direction from the said neutral position to move said link in a direction to release said clutch, and stop means positioned to engage said link when said control lever is shifted in one direction from the nuetral position for stopping said link before the said clutch is engaged, the slot in the central lever permitting overtravel thereof when the link is so stopped.

5. In a washing machine of the type described having a washing compartment with an agitator and an agitator drive shaft and also having a drain connection; a clutch for connecting said shaft with a source of power, a valve for controlling said drain connection, an'actuating lever member connected with said clutch and an actuating drag link member connected with said valve for shifting them between their operative positions, a lever pivoted in said machine adjacent the said actuating members, slot means in one of said lever and members and pin means on the other thereof extending therein'to provide for a lost-motion connection between the lever and each of said members, said lever having an intermediate position where the pin between the lever and the drag link member has reached one limit of its movement in the associated slot so that movement of the lever in one direction will move the drag link to open the valve, while in the same lever position the pin between the lever and lever member is intermediate the ends of the associated slot and the lever member is positioned to hold the clutch open.

6. In a washing machine of the type described having a washing compartment with an agitator and an agitator drive shaft and also having a drain connection; a clutch for connecting said shaft with a source of power, a valve for controlling said drain connection, an actuating lever member connected with said clutch and an actuating drag link member connected with said valve for shifting them between their operative positions, a lever pivoted in said machine adjacent the said actuating members, slot means in one of said lever and members and. pin means on the other thereof extending therein to provide for a lost-motion connection between the lever and each of said members, said lever having an intermediate position where the pin between the lever and the drag link member has reached one limit of its movement in the associated slot so that movement of the lever in one direction will move the drag link to open the valve, while in the same lever position the pin between the lever and lever member is intermediate the ends of the associated slot and the lever member is positioned to hold the clutch open, said lever and lever member intersecting at an obtuse angle disposed so as to decrease when the lever is moved in the said one direction, a rock shaft supporting said lever, and means to rock said shaft in either direction from its intermediate position for selectively opening said valve or closing said clutch.

7. In a washing machine of the type described having a washing compartment with an agitator and an agitator drive shaft and also having a drain connection; a clutch for connecting said shaft with a source of power, a valve for controlling said drain connection, an actuating lever member connected with said clutch and an actuating drag link member connected with said valve for shifting them between their operative positions, a lever pivoted in said machine adjacent the said actuating members, slot means in one of said lever and members and pin means on the other thereof extending therein to provide for a lost-motion connection between the lever and each of said members, said lever having an intermediate position where the pin between the lever and the drag link member has reached one limit of its movement in the associated slot so that movement of the lever in one direction will move the drag link to open the valve, while in the same lever position the pin between the lever and lever member is intermediate the ends of the associated slot and the lever member is positioned to hold the clutch open, said lever and lever member intersecting at an obtuse angle disposed so as to decrease when the lever is moved in the said one direction, a rock shaft supporting said lever, and means to rock said shaft in either direction and an aigitator drive sheiftend aise fievm'g a drainricem reetiong a' -'c1utch for eennectingzsaid sliaft'with a source ofi power, a verve: for-"Gentr filing sid :dfain connection, an actuating flrever membersconmeeted with said-clutch m1 isten:- ating drag: link member connectedrwithisafiivelve irrshifting'them between their operative posi tions, a lever pivoted in iSaifl machine: adjacent thesaid actuating members; slotmea ns i-n o'ne' of said lever and members and 1pm :means on the other thereofeXtendi'ng therein tepmvide for e Instr-motion connection between the l'ever falfi d ofsa-id'members, said lever having an intermediate. position where the pin 'loetweenthelever and-the drag 1m member has re'a'che'd dne Limit of its: movement in the associated slot so I that mevement of the lever in one directitm will met e the draglinl: to open the" valve, while in thesame lever. position the pin between the lever and lever member is intermediate thee'nds oi the edssoeiated sl'et and the lever member 'is positioned I to hold 8 the cluth"epeh-,-"arifi ae'ver -e.iad -l'v'l mefnfir in= terseetin et an 'ebtuse angle disbbed soes 'tb decrease when the lever is miiveii in the siddfi direction, -'arock shaft supporting Said 1e\"er, *a1 rd means to roek' said shaft in either directibn frcm its intermediate positibfl for selectively 'opemhg siidwalve or clesin'g said clutch, seitimafime com rising a "cabinet e fibloi'ng the described mehanism,-=ahd a oht'rol lever on" the eatsfde' '65 said cabinet having means extending "therethrough and operatively connected to Sjfd10'0k shaft-said meane including detentmeans t6 pfe determme' the -'severt1 operative pdsitio'ns'f $55K! contr'bl le'verand roek shalft,

CLAYTONF; EMMERT.

References Cited in the file 6f this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

